Author Archives: Antikrish

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About Antikrish

For answers to all the questions you didn't know you had! www.antikrish.com

Diablo 3 – Beta testing

With the Diablo 3 launch date (05th of May, 2012) rapidly approaching, I felt that it was prudent to double check the system requirements to see if my ageing PC was capable of running the game.

I can’t be having my ‘puter conk out, just as I’m about to cleave big D’s face off with a flamberge now can I?

Upon logging into Blizzards page Saturday night, I stumbled upon the announcement that there was an open beta test over that very weekend; what smegging good fortune?!?! I downloaded the beta client and sat patiently as I waited for the Diablo 3 game to update; it reminded me of when Blizzard released a patch for Diablo 2 and it took forever to download on a 56k modem???

I did not read the ‘3 stage’ readiness bar that indicates that the game is 1) downloading, 2) playable and 3) optimum.  I decided to try and play the Beta at ‘playable’ when the files were still downloading and my PC jumped around like a twat;  I had no idea that the game needed to download further for stability and real panic set in that my RAM was shagged or that I needed a new graphics card.

I then proceeded to overclock my PC in the BIOS, check the RAM for voltage and functionality problems along witht he defrag of both my hard drives.  Ran the game again…stut..t.sttt..stutter!!! ARRHGHGHG  Was I to be denied Diablo 3?  NO!

Once I logged back in, I realised my error and the game loaded fine. All that time wasted poncing about with the PC…….cunt.

Anyway, back to the review.  Wow.  What a game this is going to be.  It reminded me of a cross between the original Diablo (there seems much more emphasis on the story and questing than D2) and Baldurs Gate 2.  There is such a familiar tone to the game, anyone who has spent countless hours on either of the Diablo games or Baldurs Gate will hopefully know what I mean.

I played a few levels as a Wizard (you can choose male or female which is quite smart) and it was like popping on a pair of old slippers.  The GUI is very familiar, as are the navigation hot keys which are pretty much the same as they were in Diablo 2.

I shudder to think how much of my life was spent questing on behalf of Deckard Cain, speaking of which; it was absolutely fantastic to hear the same actor play Deckard Cain return.

“Stay a while and listen!” <——– Give me the Horadric Cube old man or you’re going to get it!

I am happy to confirm that my PC was able to play the game with the rendering and texture settings to maximum (My PC is overclocked to 2.7ghz at the moment with 4gb or RAM) and the use of lighting (particular for dazzling spell effects) is amazing; I absolutely loved walking back into ‘Old Tristram’, what a nostalgic feeling!

My final point of praise has to go to the people behind the game music, top notch chaps.  The dulcet tones of the original score have been fused with new compositions and I will definitely order the soundtrack at some point; I have spent most of today considering whether to cancel my pre-order and buy the ultimate edition!

Time to die, well, almost!

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Draw Something

‘Draw Something’ is a fun application that I occasionally play on my phone; the basic premise of the game is to draw something (no shit Sherlock) and let a friend try to guess what it is that you are drawing!   It reminds me of playing ‘Pictionary’ when I was a kid.

‘Draw Something’ is even more fun for me because I can’t draw for shit.  I can’t even draw a ‘Stick Man’ very well and the ability to draw a decent circle or oval also eludes me.

I can clone-brush tits onto a donkey or photoshop myself into a cornershop; but when it comes to free-hand drawing, forget about it (best New York mobster accent)!

I do wish that the people behind ‘Draw Something’ would introduce some slightly less-PC words?

Can you imagine the very funny, yet slightly awkward moment when you have to draw the word ‘Germany’ whilst playing with a random person on the application?

Ahem.

Burning Of The Midnight Lamp

It is 1:30am and I should be tucked up in bed getting eight good hours of sleep before work.

As you can see, I am not………this is because my brain often decides to suddenly start racing around with stupid ideas at midnight and I gradually develop the same sort of reluctance to go to bed that I remember having as a small child.

I somehow come to the illogical conclusion that sleep is over-rated!?

I’m not sure you can call it insomnia because I could sleep if I want to?  Nothing is wrong, I am content and have been in a cheerful mood all day; I just don’t want to sleep?

There are better things to be doing instead of sleeping, like listening to music?

There is something to be said for revisiting old tunes now and again, my inspriation for the blog title comes from a  Jimi Hendrix song.

‘Burning Of The Midnight Lamp’ was one of the first Hendrix songs that I remember really connecting with.  I can still remember the first time that I heard the distinctive melodic guitar riff at the beginning of the song (I eventually learned how to play the riff) along with the killer guitar solo that has the unique warbling fuzz sound (couldn’t learn that bit Jimi, you clever bastard!).

It’s odd really.  Sometimes, at midnight, I think that I can get away with watching an hour-long programme (like Dexter, Fringe or Latina Sluts Do Bumsex 8) and go to bed at 1am.  After all, 7 hours sleep is a reasonable time after all?  Then at 1am, I think “……ah sod it!”  or “I’ll call it quits at 2am and get 6 hours sleep!”.

I appreciate that I may come across as being rather arrogant and a little odd for genuinely believing that I can function better on 5-6 hours of sleep than most people can after a full nights kip.  Lets face it, I know I can!

Hey, if you want to read a more humble blog entry then than this one, well, you’d best piss off somewhere else innit??!  That’s how I roll!

Mr. Cheeks the Weatherman

Mr.  Cheeks loves nothing better than catching some serious rays and sunning his arse! 

My dog is a very effective barometer and I can often tell how the weather is going to be based upon his behaviour!

For example, he was happily lapping up the Sun, took one look up at the sky and slithered in before the rain started coming down!

Here he is at his happiest, Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you:

Chico, the solar powered hound!

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Man’s best friend

I can genuinely understand the saying ‘A dog is a man`s best friend’

Chico telepathically seems to know exactly when the football is on and I can not think of how Sky Sports ‘Super Sunday’ would feel without him laying by my side whilst I watch the beautiful game?

Unknown to most, Cheeks is a keen follower of the sport and a diehard Manchester United fan; he and I often have in-depth chats about our mutual appreciation of the game.

He thinks Chris Waddle talks shite and Alan Smith is a boring ballbag.

Come on you Reds!

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Patrice Evra – Vilified

I feel compelled to write about today’s FA cup game between Manchester United and Liverpool; I am appauled by what I have just witnessed live on television.

I wasn’t sickened by the final result (United lost 2-1 despite out-playing Liverpool for most of the game; but that’s cup football), but rather the way in which the crowd set about treating Patrice Evra from kick-off.

The British media are largely to blame for this retaliation in my opinion because they have printed articles all week suggesting that it was perfectly acceptable for Liverpool fans to boo Patrice Evra, but not call him the unnacceptable racist names that Luis Suarez was banned for.

The tens of thousands of people who booed Evra did so because they took exception to the way he was brave enough to confront racism during a game of professional football.   There is no other explanation?

Lets face it, the thousands booing Evra might as well have put on Ku Klux Klan sheets and burned crosses with the way they jeered him today?  This was DEFINITELY not the ‘rival club banter’ that the pundits tried to pass it off as and everyone that booed are as guilty of racism as Suarez.

Liverpool FC acted irresponsibly and without class during the whole Suarez affair; I think the way they produced t-shirts to publically support Suarez was disgraceful given the gravity of what Suarez had done; he knew perfectly well what he was doing when he called Patrice Evra what he did.

Ultimately, it all boils down to the fact that football is still as institutionally racist as it was when I was a kid.  The ‘Respect’ campaign now appears to be fantastically hollow because Suarez should have been banned for life and Liverpool FC should have been fined/banned/punished for acting irresponsibily in their continued support of him.

We are to believe that racism is being stamped out of the modern game and that it is a far cry from what I used to see in the 1980’s;  in reality, we have very powerful people with ulterior motives employing an underhanded campaign of smoke and mirrors, purely to distract people from the fact that racism is clearly as prevalent as ever before?

The picture, taken from live TV footage from today’s game says it all!!?